The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-22

which was q marked editorial relativ,
to the mutilation of the Palatka Charter
Bill in its passage through the Senate
The third paragraph reads as follows
Senator Walker was chairman of the
Committee on Enrolled Bills, and when
Chandler, of Marion, and Fowler, OF
Putnam, and declared By them to b.
all right Here Fowler exhibited great
interest and urged haste on the Enrolling
Clerk. Now the crookedness lies be
tween Fowler, Chandler, and the Clerk.
We call upon each for a statement, etc. '
In reply, can say that it is impossible
for me to furnish information which /
do not possess. l only know that the
bill referred to passed the Senate, and
for some cause was delayed i'm the En-
rolling Committee. Senator Fowler, at
this time, not after the bill ,ras en-
rolled, urged haste, and invoked the
aid of Senator Walker, as Chairman of
Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills, to
hasten it's enrolment. As several bills
had passed after the Palatka Charter
Bill, and had been enrolled and reported
back to the Senate, Senator Fowler's
persistency in urging the enrolment of
the Charter Bill was, think. justifiable
and commendable.
1 was not a member of Senator Walk
er's Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills,
but of the Joint Committee on Enrolled
Bills, which consisted of two Senators
and two Representatives. Now whether
l read the Charter Bill at the request of
Senator Walker as Chairman of Senate
Committee on Enrolled Bills or at the
request of Senator Stephens of the Joint
Committee on Enrolled Bills, do not re-
member. l only remember that Senator
Fowler asked me to read the bill over
with him that it might be reported and
handed t" the Governor for his sigma
ture. We compared the Enrolled and
Engrossed Bills and found them the
same, and SO reported.
In the unusual haste of the last ten
days it was customary for a Senator to
read his bill over with some member of
the Committees on Enrolled Bills and
thus aid them in their work. In that
way the committee could do double
tor examining one bill, and another
member with some other Senator exam
lining anothe- bill. Had not this been
done it is difficult to see how many of
the bills which became laws would have
reached the Governor. Every Senator
was presumed to act upon his Honor and
to do as conscientious work as if a MEM
Der of the Enrolling Committees.
What the Enrolling Clerk did do not
know. If changes were made in the en-
crossed BILL the enrolled bill must, of
course, have followed the changed bill.
My duty was to prepare the engrossed
and enrolled bills. This 1 did as in
the case of the many other
bills L examined. No Senator
seemed to have any special interest in
the Palatka Charter Bill save Senator
Fowler, who, as a citizen of Palatka and
Senator from Putnam was peculiarly in
terested. L did not notice that his inter
est in the charter bill was unlike that of
other Senators in local bills.
If the time wasted by the politicians
in the Senatorial deadlock had been
given to legislation instead of crowding
the work of thirty days into ten, public
interests would have been better pro-
tected. and fewer charges of crookedness
preferred against overworked clerks and
enrolling committees. Ii the published
bIunders which interested parties will in
their disappointment unjustly attribute
to ''crOOkedness," / shall be surprised.
Yours, with respect,
HENRY w. CHANDLER